Entering the sprawling 35-acre campus in sunny Palmetto, Fla., you might think that you've entered a modern college campus. Instead, this spacious area is home to Southeastern Guide Dogs, a nonprofit organization that dedicates its donations to the research and resources it takes to bring high-quality guide, service and companion dogs to those who need them.
Accredited by the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International, the organization runs one of the most sophisticated training facilities in the world. It currently oversees the training of 1,200 puppies and dogs.
The nonprofit actually breeds their own Labrador Retrievers, and chooses the dogs that have the most ideal temperament and personality to reproduce. After staying with their mothers for six weeks, puppies enter the Puppy Academy (a preschool and kindergarten program). These puppies begin to gradually learn everything from basic commands to curb training to get a feel for different scenarios they have to face with their human companions in the real world.
After initial training, they're introduced to puppy raisers, volunteers who welcome a trained puppy into their homes and work with them one-on-one to oversee their development until they're ready to advance to Canine University. While in Canine University, the now-dogs will be focused on more advanced training skills until their graduation. The dogs that become service or guide dogs (roughly only 30 percent end up becoming service dogs) will then embark on a training program with their new companions.
Thanks to the state-of-the-art facility, the new service and guide dogs and their companions can stay on-site for weeks getting in-person training and instruction on how to work together. This instruction provides the tools and the guidance new companions need to see how these dogs can make such a incredible impact in their lives.
"It's nice to come to a place everyday where everything is positive," says Ruth Lando, manager of media relations for Southeastern Guide Dogs.
An experience Southeastern Guide Dogs offers to show just how positively these dogs can impact a person's life is "Beyond the Dark," which demonstrates what it's like to experience some of the obstacles people that suffer from blindness or PTSD face. While putting a blindfold on, you can hear what it's like to experience getting on a crowded bus without being able to see, and what a war veteran's night terror might sound like. It's eye opening to see what service dogs are capable of doing to support their companions—from waking them up to disrupt a night terror to helping point out an empty seat on a crowded bus— to effectively improve their quality of life.
Now, it can take tens and thousands of dollars to breed, train and raise a service dog, but Southeastern Guide Dogs provides these life-saving pets at no cost to their clients. The organization is fully-funded by private donations.
One of the benefits of being an alumni of Southeastern Guide Dogs is that throughout the working dog partnership, everything will be free, including high-quality food sponsored by Fromm Family Foods. Fromm is also sponsoring George, a young puppy on his way to becoming a successful service dog with the support of his puppy raiser, Linda Hunter.
"I'm usually just the lady who holds the leash, and that's fine with me," says Hunter.
To support Southeastern Guide Dogs and its mission to provide service, guide and companion dogs to those who need them, here's where you can make a private donation.
The Power of the Service Dog
Southeastern Guide Dogs expertly breeds, trains and selects the best guide dogs, service dogs and companion dogs to support people with vision loss, veterans with disabilities and children that have
